TLDR Owning a modern pinball machine is one of those hobbies that looks cleaner from the outside than it feels from the inside. From the outside, it looks like you bought an expensive game for your home. From the inside, it feels more like you bought a connected mechanical hobby system that happens to be … Read more
TLDR As of April 2026, it is getting harder to argue that venue growth is a side story in pinball. Pinball will always be a machine business first. New releases, code updates, rumors, price chatter, and trim debates are never going away. But one of the healthiest things happening in the hobby right now is … Read more
TLDR For a while, American Pinball felt less like a rising manufacturer and more like an open question. The company had gone through dormancy, layoffs, and a stretch of real uncertainty about whether it would meaningfully return at all. Then, on January 15, 2026, JB Vincent LP acquired the assets of American Pinball in a … Read more
TLDR A pinball machine is not just a game. At the high end, it is also industrial design, sculpture, animation, sound, illustration, and collectible object all at once. That is why the Harry Potter pinball controversy became bigger than a niche hobby argument. It hit a fault line that artists and collectors already care about: … Read more
TLDR Harry Potter was always going to be judged differently. This is one of those licenses people had been fantasy-booking for years, so a merely decent game was never going to be enough. Jersey Jack needed to deliver a machine that actually felt worthy of the theme. In the broad sense, they did. Harry Potter … Read more
TLDR A lot of pinball lists collapse into two lazy categories. One is “here are the famous games everybody already knows.” The other is “here are my personal favorites, so good luck turning that into a buying decision.” That is not what this is. This list is built for someone actually trying to choose a … Read more
TLDR Galactic Tank Force is one of those modern pinball machines that immediately tells you what kind of experience it wants to be. It is loud, strange, self-aware, and not especially interested in playing things safe. American Pinball built it as an original-theme game, which already makes it stand out in a market where licensed … Read more
Venom pinball machines are some of the more unusual modern Stern releases, and that is a big part of why people keep arguing about them. At a glance, it looks like a Marvel theme with comic art, a captive ball, and the usual model ladder. But Venom is built around a host system that changes … Read more
A family free-play arcade with 20 to 30 pinball machines and 10 to 20 arcade games can work in Utah. In fact, it is a more believable concept than a pure quarter-driven pinball room. But it only works if it is built as a destination experience, not just a room full of machines. Utah has … Read more
The best Addams Family pinball mods are usually not the loudest ones. On a game like TAF, the smartest upgrades protect wear spots, improve visibility, and add a little extra theme without making the machine feel customized into a corner. That matters because this is still one of the biggest collector titles in pinball, and … Read more
Bride of Pinbot is one of those pinball machines that people remember even if they have not touched one in years. The giant rotating head. The voice. The left ramp that basically becomes your whole life for a while. And of course, the billion-point shot that can make an ordinary game feel suddenly legendary. Some … Read more
If you are shopping for the best Walking Dead pinball machines right now, the answer is a lot clearer than it was a year ago. There are really two lanes now. You can buy into Stern’s newer remaster, or you can hunt down one of the 2014 originals on the secondary market. Both routes are … Read more
If you’re looking for a Stranger Things pinball machine for sale, the good news is that this is not one of those titles you have to chase for six months before one finally appears. You can still find new Pro and Premium models from several pinball dealers, and the used market is active enough that … Read more
Johnny Mnemonic pinball maintenance is not quite normal pinball maintenance. On a simpler mid 90s Williams game, you mostly worry about flippers, switches, dirt, balls, and the occasional board issue. Johnny adds the Cyberglove, the hand magnet, the hand popper, encoder boards, home switches, and a moving harness that can absolutely waste your weekend if … Read more
Elton John pinball maintenance starts with one basic question: which Elton John machine do you actually own? For most people, that means the modern Jersey Jack Pinball Elton John. But there is also the older Bally title, Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, which is Elton-connected and needs a very different kind of repair … Read more